China's second manned spacecraft returns safely

BEIJING - China's second manned spacecraft Shenzhou VI touched down successfully in Inner Mongolia today after orbiting the Earth for five days, state media said, as the country stepped up a gush of patriotic fanfare.

The two astronauts reported they had landed safely and were in good health after the space capsule touched down in the remote steppes of the northern Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua news agency said.

They completed 76 orbits of the Earth and travelled millions of kilometres since Wednesday morning's launch of the mission, which state media has already hailed as a breakthrough demonstrating China's emergence as a technological power.

"We're proud of Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, and we're even prouder of the motherland's constantly advancing aerospace programme," Xinhua news agency said in a commentary ahead of their return.

Chinese President Hu Jintao had spoken to the astronauts by telephone over the weekend, just days after presiding over a meeting of top Communist Party leadership that spelt out the country's plans to develop its own technological prowess.

"In times past, we couldn't manufacture even a car or ship," Xinhua said.

"Today, an independent, self-sufficient, constantly strengthening China has, like a miracle, become one of a handful of countries able to make the dream of spaceflight a reality."

Colonel Yang Liwei became the first Chinese man in space when he orbited the Earth 14 times aboard the Shenzhou V in October 2003.

China has pulled together its increasingly ambitious space programme on a relative shoestring. Xinhua quoted a Chinese academic as saying the price for the development of the entire Shenzhou programme was about $US2.3 billion ($NZ3.34 billion), a fraction of NASA's $US16b budget for 2005 alone.

But state media have mainly focused on the economic benefits the space programme should reap for China's 1.3 billion people.

"Successful flights like Shenzhou VI build cohesiveness and reassure the people about their nation's social and economic potential," said Anthony Curtis, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, who follows China's space programme.

The country has also used its increasingly reliable Long March rockets to put over 50 satellites into orbit, including several for foreign international clients.

"China's repeated successful launches of manned spacecraft will be extremely likely to help China achieve a fresh breakthrough in the world commercial aerospace market," the China Business newspaper said.

Its next manned mission, slated to include a spacewalk, will take off in 2007, followed by the establishment of an orbiting space station, which Curtis said would be feasible within the next five years.

- REUTERS